


just to keep you warm, just to bring you home

by JuliaRose12



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Angst, Anxiety, Canon-Typical Violence, Domestic Fluff, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Families of Choice, Family Bonding, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Food as a Metaphor for Love, Found Family, Gen, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, I promise, Insomnia, M/M, Minor Injuries, Panic Attacks, Post-Canon, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Team as Family, Teasing, Temporary Character Death, and using what she learns, but only temporary, essentially moments of hurt/angst followed by moments of comfort and love, every chapter ends softly, nile learning how they comfort each other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-15
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:54:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26486005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JuliaRose12/pseuds/JuliaRose12
Summary: In hindsight, Nile is almost surprised by how little Andy, Nicky, and Joe hide from her.Or, Nile learns, one person at a time, all the little ways that Andy, Nicky, and Joe comfort and care for each other when things fall apart. And as it turns out, the things she learns make becoming part of this family easier than she ever would have imagined.
Relationships: Andromache of Scythia & Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani & Nicky | Nicolo di Genova & Nile Freeman, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 168
Kudos: 682





	1. reine, february

**Author's Note:**

> right after I watched the old guard for the first time i decided that i wanted to write a fic about nile learning all the little ways that andy, nicky, and joe look out for each other and take care of each other (and then getting to look out for them like they have for her), and after a month of planning and writing and many insane google searches... here we are!!
> 
> i will start off by saying that this fic is complete and i will be posting a new chapter every few days! joe, andy, and nicky each have their own chapter (in that order) where they go through some type of difficult time or moment and nile learns how they take care of each other, and then it is all going to culminate in the final chapter where everyone is going to go through it a lil bit and nile is going to get to take the lead. there is going to be Angst but every chapter ends softly!! i could never hurt any of them for too long. and although i love to write hurt/comfort, i had so much fun writing lots of sweet family moments and banter for this fic. so there's a lot of that too!! also, the tags apply to the entire fic (not just the first chapter).
> 
> title is from start a riot by banners because i feel like that song reflects what i was going for with this fic.
> 
> knowing me I will come up with more notes later on but that's all i have to say for now! feedback and comments are always very very appreciated<3 I hope you enjoy and I am really looking forward to sharing the rest!

In hindsight, Nile is almost surprised by how little Andy, Nicky, and Joe hide from her. She shouldn’t be, she knows, because if the past month has proven anything to her, it’s that this group, this family, isn’t just a family in the general, objective sense of the word. They’re _her_ family now, a group of people she didn’t know five weeks ago but who now hold everything she understands about the world in their six hands. 

But she also knows, as well as she knows they do, that finding your place in a family isn’t something as simple as flipping a switch, as shutting off the life she knew and turning on the life she’s now living, and will live for a very, very long time. 

And as terrifying as it is, she knows that she cares about them, is drawn to them in a manner happening much faster than she ever would have expected, which is why when she walks past their battered Norway safehouse’s kitchen one evening and hears worry in Andy and Nicky’s voices, she doesn’t quietly disappear back into her room. She stands instead in the doorway, listening. 

“When was the last time he slept?” Andy asks, her knuckles pressed to the tabletop beside Nicky’s elbow. His head rests on his own fist, and Andy’s stance should seem commanding, but with Nicky, it doesn’t. 

“Three nights ago,” Nicky answers as he runs his hand over his face, nearly muffling his words. He sounds tired himself, despite the fact that he’s gone to sleep before Nile for the past three nights in question. “I know that he slept at the hotel in Malmo and for a little while on the plane. That was the last time.” 

Andy curses under her breath, low and quiet but reflective more of concern than anything else. “I thought he seemed off yesterday.”

“I had hoped this time it would not last more than a day or two,” Nicky shakes his head as Nile finally steps into the kitchen, her boots echoing on the cracked tile floor. 

“Why isn’t Joe sleeping?”

Andy and Nicky both look up to meet her eyes. There’s something open in their gazes that tells her that had she waited any longer, she wouldn’t have even had to ask.

Nicky nods toward the empty chair on the other side of the table, and it creaks as Nile sits. 

“There was a night,” Nicky starts, “many years ago. We were all killed while Joe was asleep.” He looks at Andy, but she’s looking at Nile, and Booker’s name sits uncomfortably between them, unspoken but known nonetheless. 

“It wasn’t a targeted attack,” Andy says. “Just the wrong place, wrong time.” 

“It didn’t matter, of course, that we died.” Nicky’s eyes locked on Nile’s are calm, but even after only a few weeks knowing him, she’s already able to see sadness hidden somewhere within them, no matter how quick the flashes are. “Joe found us before we woke, and it has stayed with him.” 

“But that was so -”

“Long ago?” Andy asks. “It was. But some things, some deaths, they stick with you longer than others.”

“Some are harder to forget,” Nicky adds, finally looking down at the table and running his finger along a crack in the wood. “When this comes back to Joe, he has trouble sleeping. Refuses to. Sometimes for days.”

It’s something Nile hadn't thought about - not that it hadn’t crossed her mind, but it hadn’t taken precedence over any of the other earth-shattering concepts she’s had to grapple with since she woke up without even the ghost of a mark on her neck. A death is a death, and waking up from it, or watching the people you love wake up from it, doesn’t erase its impact. She thinks of Joe this morning, the way he had shied away from the sunlight when Andy opened the kitchen curtains, and something in her aches. 

She’s about to ask what they do, how they handle something like this, when Joe appears in the doorway, his hair still wet and slightly tangled from his shower. Andy catches Nile’s eye with a look that says that she knew what her question was going to be, so Nile simply watches and waits.

“Is it something I said?” Joe chuckles as he walks to the sink and flips on the water. His voice is light, but the strain beneath it is so evident now that Nile doesn’t know how she didn’t notice it sooner. 

“Just talking about how you better not have used up all the hot water,” Andy replies, and Joe shakes his head in amusement, “again.” 

“I’m not the one you need to worry about.” Joe says as he opens the cabinet above his head. “Nicky is much more particular -” 

There’s a harsh, shattering sound as the glass Joe was reaching for hits the ground, taking two others down with it that slip easily past his just-noticeably trembling fingers. 

Nicky is on his feet in an instant as Joe stands still and silent, staring at the glass shards scattered across the floor. It’s impossible for Nile not to notice the harsh contrast between them. There’s a consistent steadiness to the way they balance each other out whether the moment is good or bad, and right now is no different.

“Joe?” Nicky’s voice is gentle as he steps over the wreckage and takes Joe’s elbow in his hand. “Why don’t we go sit down for a while and watch TV?” 

“All of us,” Andy adds, and Nile nods in agreement. 

She watches as Joe keeps his eyes on the ground and then raises them to meet Nicky’s. It’s like no one exists but the two of them, and the silence between them feels so intimate that the fact that she and Andy are there almost feels like an intrusion.

“I’ll make tea,” Nile says. “What kind do you like, Joe?” 

“Lemon ginger,” Nicky answers for Joe, and Nile almost laughs at Joe’s raised eyebrows behind him. “The box is in there.” He points in the general direction of the still-full grocery bags in the corner of the room.

Andy gives Nile an appreciative look as she follows Nicky and Joe out of the kitchen and towards the couch and television in the next room. The water boils faster than Nile expects for such a decrepit-looking stove, and the sounds of a soccer game filter through the small space as she fills Joe’s mug and watches the tea bag float to the top. 

“Did you know,” Nicky starts as Nile enters the living room a couple minutes later, handing Joe his mug and accepting the _thank you_ he mouths at her with a soft smile, “that Joe used to be on a team like this?”

Nile raises her eyebrows as Joe lifts his mug to his mouth and knocks his shoulder into Nicky’s. “You flatter me,” Joe says, and then turns back to Nile, who has since settled herself into a worn-out armchair. “It wasn’t a team like that, per se.” He inclines his head in the direction of the TV. “It was a smaller team, years and years before there were widespread ways to document who was on a team and who wasn’t.” 

“Things were much easier before the internet,” Andy chimes in from the floor.

“My hair was shorter back then, though, so I probably would have been safe.” Joe sips his tea, looking more visibly relaxed than he did a few moments ago. “Nicky wasn’t a fan.” 

“That is a lie,” Nicky shakes his head. He turns to Joe, speaking softly in what sounds to Nile like Arabic, words she doesn’t yet understand but hopes she will in time. Joe nods twice, and then sets his mug down on the coffee table and moves onto his side, settling himself with his head in Nicky’s lap and the rest of his body stretched across the couch. Andy moves closer too, knocking the back of her head against Joe’s knees where they’re hovering just past the edge. 

“I did like your short hair,” Nicky continues as if the conversation had never stopped. “I just prefer the curls.”

“I would love to see all the looks you’ve all had over the years,” Nile smiles from her armchair, watching as Nicky chuckles and gently runs a hand through Joe’s hair.

“Some were better than others,” Andy says, and there’s a story behind it that Nile resolves herself to get out of Andy sooner or later. “I would take a horsehair helmet over the acid-wash jeans of the 80s any day.” Nile watches as she turns to the side and rests her hand on Joe’s calf - she looks to Nicky then, and he nods before leaning slightly forward, his hand never leaving Joe’s hair. 

“Will you sleep, Yusuf? For a little while, please?” 

Joe sighs, deep enough that Nile sees his shoulders tremble with it. “I want to, Nicolò,” he mumbles into the top of Nicky’s thigh. “But-”

“You can sleep,” Nile cuts him off without even planning on it. The fleeting hope that she isn’t overstepping hums under her skin as she continues. “I’ll keep an eye on these two for once. I need more practice than you do.” 

Nicky looks up at her. His soft expression isn’t something new, but there’s gratitude in his eyes that gives Nile the reassurance she was seeking. “See?” Nicky turns his attention back to Joe. “We are all safe here, my love. Please close your eyes.”

“I’d listen to him, Joe,” Andy adds. “My methods of getting you to sleep will not be as gentle as Nicky’s.”

“Mhm,” Joe hums. “I don’t doubt that.” 

A team that Nile doesn’t know scores a goal on the screen in front of her, and commentators celebrate in a language she doesn’t recognize. It’s quiet now, aside from the stadium-wide chants on the screen and the snowy wind outside battering against the windows, and somehow, Nile would know it was dark without even opening the curtains. Nicky continues to brush through Joe’s hair, speaking softly to him every once in a while. The subtle sounds filling the small space are so peaceful that time slips away as Nile finds herself drifting closer and closer to sleep. 

Andy’s voice eventually brings her back to the room. “Is he out?” 

A question for Nicky, despite the fact that she’s looking at Joe. 

“I think so,” Nicky whispers. His relief is nearly tangible as he tips his head back against the couch and lets out a slow breath. “You two should go get some rest too.”

“He’s like a cat,” Andy says as she stands, barely suppressing a laugh. She stretches her arms over her head, clearly feeling the effects of sitting on the floor for the past two hours. “I’m going to lie down now that he’s asleep. I’ll see you both in the morning.”

She pauses before she goes, though, running her fingertips over the side of Joe’s leg from where she stands beside the couch. When she steps around the back, she briefly rests her hand on Nicky’s shoulder, and he looks up at her with a quiet “goodnight, Andy.” She nods to Nile, and then disappears down the hall without making a sound. 

“Is he going to be okay?” Nile asks over the arm of her chair. 

Nicky doesn’t reply, at least not right away, and Nile notices then what has changed. Joe is lying on his back, still asleep in Nicky’s lap but with Nicky’s palm now flattened over his heart. Joe’s own arm is folded, his fingers curled loosely around Nicky’s wrist. Nicky leans forward to press his lips to Joe’s forehead and then lingers there, the two of them tangled together in such a way that the dim light from the TV makes them look like one being with two hearts that beat for each other. 

Though in a way, Nile supposes, they are.

Nicky finally looks up, wincing a little as he stretches his shoulders back. “Yes,” he says. “Joe will be okay. He will sleep tomorrow night. It usually just takes one night, and then he is back to himself.”

Nile nods, watching them for a few more breaths before she flips over onto her side and pulls her knees up to her chest. “I’ll sleep here tonight too. This chair isn’t half bad, actually. And someone needs to make sure _you_ get some sleep.”

“Thank you, Nile,” Nicky says before he’s almost cut off by a yawn. “I know that Joe appreciated you looking out for him. As did I.” He reaches for a pillow that he tucks between the back of his neck and the top of the couch, and smiles down at a noise Joe makes in his sleep. “It is difficult to see him haunted like this. But Joe knows that he is never alone. We all want you to know that it is the same for you.”

“I know,” Nile answers, “it means a lot.” The wind continues to batter the small house with gusts of snow, little wisps sneaking in between cracks in the wood here and there, but all Nile can feel is warmth. “Goodnight, Nicky.” 

“Dormi bene,” Nicky whispers, his eyes already slipping closed. 

With everyone else asleep, breathing steadily and softly, Nile sleeps too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dormi bene - sleep well
> 
> and yes i did project my love of lemon ginger tea onto joe
> 
> you can find me on twitter @elvesofmirkwood !


	2. new york city, april

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello again! the reaction to the first chapter of this fic has been so lovely, and i'm so excited to share the next one. it's andy's turn! this chapter was lots and lots of fun to write, partly because of the second half of it, and partly because I fully took advantage of the opportunity to set it in one of my favorite parts of new york city. i hope you enjoy :)

Andy is only gone for thirteen minutes, but it’s too long. 

Nile forces herself into the role of voice of reason, the one who takes control and command, to balance out the frantic looks that overtake Joe and Nicky the moment Andy is pulled away from them. Nile knows as well as Nicky and Joe do that Andy can handle herself better than any of them, but the lack of an immortality safety blanket has the situation feeling more dangerous with every minute that Andy is out of reach. 

The abandoned high rise serving as the base of operations for a notorious gambling operation, targeted by Copley because of its leader’s rumored connection with an overseas sex trafficking ring, only has three or four occupiable floors, and six doors are kicked down before they find the one Andy is behind. Two shots, and the men blocking her are dead. Joe is undoing the rope tied tightly around her wrists, and then they’re moving again, not stopping until the job is done, the remaining men are left for Copley’s backup team to deal with and question, and the doors of their getaway car are slammed shut behind them. 

“Are you okay?” Nile finally allows concern to cross her face now that she’s seated beside Andy in the backseat. Joe eases the car away from the curb as Nicky turns to face them from the passenger side, and Andy tips her head back against the leather. 

“I’m good,” Andy sighs. “Got a knife to my shoulder for the trouble, but it’s not that bad.” She stretches her fingers out in her lap, and her eyes catch on her wrists at the same moment Nile’s do. They’re rubbed raw from the ropes, clear signs of a struggle on Andy’s part, and the skin around them is broken and beginning to bruise. Andy stares, like she’s in a trace, and doesn’t say another word for the rest of the drive. 

The car is still silent by the time they arrive at the safehouse, nestled discreetly on the end of a quiet street in the West Village. Nile, Joe, and Nicky follow Andy up the winding staircases that lead to the top floor of the brownstone, and no one speaks until they’re inside and Nicky urges her toward one of the chairs at the kitchen table. 

“I said I’m fine, Nicky. I don’t need -” 

“Yes, you do,” Nicky cuts her off. His voice is firm, but there’s something pleading behind it too. “Let me look.” 

She sighs as Nicky kneels on the floor in front of her and helps peel off her jacket. The blood seeping through has begun to dry, and the fabric sticks to Andy’s skin as Nicky urges it over her shoulder. “Joe?” he says, his eyes still fixed on Andy’s wound as his fingers prod gently around the edges. “We need something to disinfect this.”

“On it.” Joe turns to Nile. “Care to join me?” 

Nile spares one last glance at Andy, who is now holding her left wrist in her right hand and turning it gingerly back and forth, and then follows Joe out of the apartment and back down the stairs. He holds the door for her, and then they’re stepping onto the street, past the perfectly-manicured trees and pigeons pecking at pastry crumbs caught between the cobblestones.

They walk in relative silence, broken only by snippets of conversations that Nile catches from passersby, and eventually the jingling of the bell above the bodega door on the next street over as they walk inside. 

Joe surveys the small space, his gaze catching on the cat lying in front of a stack of soda boxes and flicking its tail against the floor. “Up first, Ibuprofen.” 

It doesn’t take long to find the small medication aisle. Nile leans against the shelf opposite the one that Joe is browsing and tips her head back against a box of tissues.

“I can hear you thinking,” Joe says without even turning around, “and there’s a 99% chance it’s about Andy.” He turns to face her, and his expression is so open that even if Nile didn’t know him, she would trust him without hesitation. “Tell me.” 

“Her wrists,” Nile rubs the toe of her sneakers over a smudge in the tile beneath her feet. “It’s like she was more concerned about them than the fact that she was stabbed.” 

“I think,” Joe says as he traces his finger around the cap of the pill bottle in his hand, “the marks there remind her of her last moments with Quynh.” 

The story comes back to Nile all at once. She knew that Andy had been kept from Quynh, but the more intricate and painful details of the ordeal hadn’t crossed her mind until now. She thinks of Andy, the steadiness and confidence and motivation she brings to the rest of them broken down and torn into pieces by raw desperation, and feels herself flinch just the slightest bit. 

“A loss like the one Andy experienced…” Joe continues. “I don’t know that it’s something you ever fully recover from. If Nicky was ever taken from me like that -” Nile swears she sees him shudder. “It is not something I can even think about.” 

“He won’t be,” Nile replies, and it comes out with more conviction that she expects. Joe’s answering smile is a little bit sad, but it’s a smile nonetheless, and he rests his hand on her shoulder as they move on to the next aisle. 

They gather the rest of the items they need - mostly extra bandages, shampoo, and snacks for the rest of the night - and Joe shakes his head as Nile tosses a bag of chips into the basket he’s holding. 

“What?”

“Cool Ranch? I don’t know if I can let someone with such a lack of taste come back to the apartment with me.” 

“Cool Ranch is, without a doubt, superior to Nacho,” Nile says, and adds another bag for good measure. 

“I guarantee that you’ll see the light at some point in the next twenty years or so,” Joe laughs, and then points to a bag of pretzels on the shelf. “Grab those for Andy.” 

“There’s one more stop I want to make,” Joe says as they step back onto the sidewalk with their purchases. He turns in the opposite direction of the apartment and Nile follows, trusting him to know the way through these streets that are so familiar to him but so foreign to her.

“If it’s not still here I am going to be very disappointed,” Joe mumbles partly to himself, partly to Nile, partly to the couple on the other side of the street walking their dog. He leads Nile around another corner, and then stops so abruptly that she almost walks into him. 

“There,” Joe grins. It’s a bakery, with what looks like a hand-painted sign above the door and a window display filled with pastries of all kinds, stacked on tiered displays and surrounded by bright bouquets of sunflowers. “The last time we were here was maybe… ten? Eleven years ago? Which doesn’t seem like too long, but for us?” He lets out a breathy laugh. “I’m just glad it's still here.” 

Nile breathes in contentedly as they walk through the door and the smell of brown sugar and cinnamon envelops her. “Since you’re the expert here, what do you suggest?”

“Well,” Joe crouches down in front of the glass display case. “We are here because Andy loves their chocolate croissants, and I think she deserves one after today. Nicky likes the hazelnut, and I’m more of a basic pastry cream kind of guy. So I leave that important decision up to you.” 

Nile points out a croissant dusted with powdered sugar and filled with strawberries. Joe gives her a thumbs up, and then pays for all four and gratefully accepts the cardboard box handed to him over the counter.

The streets are quieter on the walk back. Joe tells a story about the last time they spent a weekend here, and Nile takes in each word as they pass yoga studios and parks smaller than the apartment and a tiny record store playing a song Nile’s brother used to love that drifts out the open front door and onto the street.

Nile can feel Joe watching her as he talks and they walk. “I get the feeling you like it here.” 

“I do,” Nile answers as she steps over a heart spray-painted on the sidewalk. “I’ve only been to New York once, when I was little. We went to the Museum of Natural History, so I didn’t see this area at all.” 

“Well, you have lots of time now. But we are only taking you to Times Square if it is literally the number one place on Earth that you want to see.” Joe’s lips twist into a half-smile as they come to a stop in front of the apartment. “And here we are.” 

Nicky is still kneeling on the floor when Nile and Joe reenter the kitchen. With his back to her, Nile notices that the blood stains on the side of his shirt extend down past his hip, but his focus on Andy hasn’t wavered in the slightest. She remembers a photo of him on Copley’s wall with a medic band around his bicep, and a few things click into place in her head at once

Joe clears his throat and Nicky stands, turning to face them as Joe reaches into the bag he’s holding and hands Nicky a bottle of hydrogen peroxide and a fresh pack of bandages. Their fingers brush before Joe steps back and fishes through the bag again. 

“For you, boss, we have…” Joe narrates as he sets each item down on the table beside Andy. “Painkillers, snacks, and the grand finale -” He drops the cardboard box from the bakery into Andy’s lap. 

“You didn’t,” Andy grins. She’s inhaling deeply before she’s even opened the box, and then she lifts the lid, and the look on her face is one Nile could only describe as _giddy_.

Andy gushes over her croissant as Nicky continues to take care of her arm. There’s music floating through the open windows from somewhere down the street, probably the man on the corner playing the guitar that Joe and Nile had passed earlier. Nile allows herself to get lost in it for a moment - lost in the music and the thought that every person she and Joe had passed on the street, every person behind every lit apartment window, is living their own unique life, separate from one another but intertwined by the mutual connection of being in this city, in this neighborhood, and even on this street. It’s comforting, Nile finds as she watches Nicky give Andy a final once-over, and she has a feeling that it's a thought she’ll bring with her to the next city they visit.

“All set,” Nicky says as he stands, and Andy thanks him. Her shoulder is wrapped tightly, probably more so than it needs to be, but wounds that don’t close are new and Nile understands the extra caution. 

“I’m going to order a pizza,” Joe reaches for the generic flip phone on the counter. Whose it is, Nile doesn’t know. 

“Joe’s?” Andy cranes her neck back to look at Joe, who nods and starts dialing.

“Wait. Joe is cooking?” Nile looks from Joe back to Andy and Nicky. There’s amusement clear on their faces, and she rolls her eyes. “What am I missing?” 

“Our Joe happens to share a name with one of the best pizzerias in the city.” Nicky smiles. “It’s Andy’s favorite. All of our favorites, actually.” He stops, considering, and then adds “aside from the pizza in Italy, of course.”

“Of course,” Nile echoes, despite never having been to Italy herself. That will be sure to change sooner or later though, she thinks to herself as Joe hangs up the phone and Nicky walks over to the sink to wash his hands.

“It’ll be here in 25 minutes,” Joe says as he rejoins the conversation and examines Nicky’s bandaging job. “Gave them a fake name, told them to leave it on the front steps, yada yada yada.”

Andy gives him a half-hearted thumbs up and leans back in her chair. Joe walks up behind Nicky then, who’s still at the sink, and squeezes his shoulders, leaning into him so his chest is pressed against Nicky’s back. “ _Hayati_ ,” Joe murmurs. “You’re exhausted.” 

Nicky shuts off the water and turns to Andy. “Will you be okay if Joe and I take a shower?” 

Andy scoffs. “Don’t you both try to babysit me. Especially since I’m the one who’s been babysitting you for the better half of a millennium.” 

“Go,” Nile waves them off. “You both smell anyway.” 

Joe sticks his tongue out at Nile, leaving her laughing as he and Nicky disappear down the hall. Andy twists open the pill bottle on the table and swallows two without a second thought, and Nile raises her eyebrows as she takes the seat opposite her. 

“You sure you’re good?”

Andy hums an affirmative noise. Her eyes look vacant again, but it’s subtle enough that Nile might not have even noticed if she wasn’t specifically looking for it. Andy stretches her arms out over the table, and Nile eyes her wrists. “I’m sure Nicky would have been happy to wrap those up too.”

“Without a doubt,” Andy agrees. “He’s always been that way, even before I was…” she glances down at her bandaged shoulder, “like this. When we first found Booker, he would say that Nicky must forget how our bodies work.” 

A familiar ache tugs at Nile’s chest. “You miss him.” 

“I do.” There’s no hesitation in Andy’s reply, and she meets Nile’s eyes across the table. “Lykon and Quynh were family once I forgot my own. It was the same with Book. Goodbyes get harder when you spend so long thinking you’re immune to them.” 

“The cuts and bruises didn’t last then,” Andy continues as she looks back down at her hands. She doesn’t say _in England_ , but she doesn’t need to. “Seeing them now is a reminder.”

“It wasn’t your fault,” Nile urges, leaning forward in her seat without even realizing it. “There was nothing else you could have -”

“Nicky and Joe have been telling me that for the last 300 years, kid.” Andy gives her a sad smile. “I appreciate it. But this is just something I have to live with.”

Almost as if summoned by the mention of their names, Nicky and Joe wander back into the kitchen a few moments later, hair damp and both dressed in the closest thing to pajamas that Nile figures they could find. “We took out all the clothes we keep here and put them on the bed,” Nicky says around a yawn. “You can take what you like.”

And since Nicky and Joe look incredibly comfortable in their sweatshirts and flannel pants, Nile doesn’t have a single complaint. 

“Someone tell Copley no more missions until Nile has her own safehouse wardrobe.”

Nile shakes her head at Joe, amusement chasing some of her tiredness away. “I’m totally fine with your hoodies for now.”

“They’re still better than those fucking 80s jeans.” Andy winces as she stands, and soon enough she’s showered and changed, and so has Nile, and a comfortable sleepiness has settled over the space.

The pizza is brought upstairs and passed around, finding its home on the coffee table once everyone has settled in on the dusty couches and chairs surrounding it. Nile can’t even suppress the noise she makes when she bites into her slice. “Holy shit, that’s good.”

“Just wait until we bring you to Italy,” Nicky says as he reaches over Joe’s legs (which are haphazardly thrown over Nicky’s knees from Joe’s sideways position on the couch) and takes a water bottle off the table. “This is very good, but nothing compares to the pizza from home.”

“Pretentious,” Andy teases, and Nicky waves a dismissive hand at her as Nile takes another slice out of the box. 

Nile watches Andy as they eat. She’s not acting like anything’s wrong (of course) but whenever she’s not talking to Nile or cracking a joke at Nicky and Joe, her eyes take on the empty quality from earlier, like she’s being pulled backwards by an invisible force any time she’s not distracted from it. 

The second time Andy trails off in the middle of a sentence and stares at her bruised wrists, Nile slides off the couch and onto her knees on the floor. There’s three boxes stacked under the coffee table, and she reaches for the closest one and brushes the thick layer of dust off the Scattergories logo with her sleeve before dropping it onto the table. “Who’s in?”

“I cannot remember the last time I played that game,” Andy leans forward and rests her elbows on her knees. “But I’m up for a few rounds. Boys?” 

“Sure, if we do teams,” Joe says as bites the end off another slice of pizza. “I do not have it in me to think on my own right now.” 

“I’m with Nile, then,” Nicky untangles himself from Joe’s limbs on the couch opposite Nile, and then drops into the seat beside her and reaches for the box as Joe watches with mock disbelief.

“Absolute betrayal,” Joe crosses his arms over his chest as he chews on his pizza crust. “So that leaves me with Andy, and we have no choice but to destroy the two of you.” 

“Not gonna happen,” Nile grins as Nicky passes around the paper and pencils he pulls out of the box. “I am a pro at this game.”

And Nile’s unspoken goal of pulling Andy out of the past, even just for a little while, is achieved within two minutes of the first round.

“Thank you for the idea, caro mio,” Nicky says without even looking up from his and Nile’s list as Joe whispers “ _put arcade for number six_ ” to Andy a little too loudly.

“You have the freshest brain of the four of us on your team, Nicky,” Andy jabs her pencil in their general direction. “Think of your own answers.” 

“And you have the oldest and most experienced,” Nicky counters as he slaps his and Nile’s finished list onto the table, with half of the sand in the plastic hourglass timer still resting at the top. “Yet, we still finished before you did.” 

“It’s not about finishing first!” Joe shifts in his seat so his back is to Nicky and Nile. “Now stop distracting us.” 

“It might not be about finishing first, but it still feels good.” Nile smirks as Nicky high fives her.

Rounds two, three, four, five? - Nile loses track after a while - follow the same pattern. Nicky and Nile take the first two by a longshot, Joe and Andy pull a surprise victory for the third, and then Nicky and Nile resume their winning streak. Nicky snorts so loudly when Nile suggests _busy kissing Joe_ for Excuses For Being Late that she almost spits out her drink. He hisses back that he can’t put that, Nile counters that he used it on her two weeks ago, and he laughs so hard that the timer runs out before they even have a chance to write it down.

“Can we change Famous People In History to Famous People In History We’ve Stolen Money From?” Andy suggests. “Because if so, I have a really good one for _C_.”

“No changing the categories,” Nile shakes her head as they compare answers. “But please don’t forget to tell me that story tomorrow.” 

“You can’t put _croissants_ for Things Found in a Kitchen just because they happen to be in our kitchen at the moment.” Nicky.

“Yes, I can.” Joe.

“Technically, since we brought the croissants in here after the pizza, they are no longer in the kitchen.” Nile.

Andy laughs loud enough to catch Nile off guard, and then she finds herself laughing too. She tips into Nicky’s side and accidentally knocks their current list out of his hand, and then he’s reminding everyone that none of it matters because he and Nile are the clear winners anyway, and then Joe’s throwing a pillow at him, and Andy’s smacking his arm with the back of her hand.

The thinly-veiled, haunted look in Andy’s eyes from earlier is long gone as she sends a pillow in Nile’s direction, and Nile finds that she doesn’t even mind that it hits her directly in the face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hayati - my life  
> caro mio - my dear
> 
> -the west village is one of my favorite parts of nyc to visit, and i'm just now realizing as i write these notes that last summer i went to joe's pizza (which i then ate in a tiny park) and then went to a little concert inside a yoga studio .. so maybe joe and nile took the same walk that i did  
> -also joe's comment about times square was me speaking through him because times square gives me hives  
> -if you don't already follow @Bodegacats_ on twitter, please do because it is a DELIGHT  
> -i am VERY invested in the idea of sweet tooth/bakery expert joe thanks to a conversation with one of my best friends so he will definitely be reappearing as the fic goes on  
> -i am ending these notes by saying how much fun the game night scene was to write - i wanted to give nile and nicky some bonding moments that were chaotic and lighthearted because most of their interactions in this fic are softer, so it was just super fun to explore :)
> 
> any feedback you have would be so appreciated - i would love to hear your thoughts! nicky's chapter is up next :) and thank you for reading <3


	3. sorrento, june

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello again!! it is now time for me to hurt nicky a little bit - he is always looking after everyone else so now its their turn to look after him. thank you everyone for your support and enthusiasm about the fic so far, it has truly meant the world to me<3
> 
> [tw for a description of a panic attack in this chapter]

With Nicky, it happens so fast and the concept seems so foreign that Nile doesn’t even see it coming.

They’re in Italy, at a hotel nestled in the cliffside of the Amalfi Coast. The job that brought them here was a short one - they’d gotten in and out within an hour to download files off the computer of a suspected illegal arms dealer, without a single death or even injury between the four of them. Copley had added three nights to their hotel stay after that, encouraging them to rest and show Nile the sights of this place that they’ve clearly all visited many times before. 

On the second evening of their stay, Nile and Joe reenter the suite to the smell of tomatoes simmering. Joe inhales dramatically as he kicks off his shoes, and Nile follows the scent into the kitchen.

“How was your walk?” Nicky glances back over his shoulder from where he stands in front of the stove, stirring sauce in a pot that is clearly the source of the aroma. Andy looks up from the onions she’s chopping at the table, interest in the answer to Nicky’s question clear on her face, and Nile finds comfort in the look. 

“Very nice,” Nile says as she reaches for a slice of bread from the basket on the table. “But it would have been a little more productive if Joe had picked a definitive favorite bakery instead of insisting on going inside them all.” 

“If you recall correctly,” Joe shakes his head with a laugh as he pulls out the chair next to Andy and sits, “there was a specific reason for each one. I have had many years to figure out who makes the best sfogliatelle in this town, and I don’t think that expertise should be taken for granted.”

“It was pretty good,” Nile admits, and Joe winks at her from the other side of the table.

“You’ll have to get used to that, Nile,” Andy says as she walks over to Nicky at the stove and dumps her cutting board full of chopped unions into the pot he’s stirring. “The esteemed dessert expert of the group has very strong opinions about pastries.” 

“Opinions that all of you benefit from,” Joe points out before launching into a heated discussion with Nicky about whether Rome or Sicily makes the better cannoli. 

Soon enough, there’s four heaping plates of pasta set out on the table, topped with fresh basil that Nile and Joe had picked up as they wandered through the cobblestone streets lining the ocean.

“Buon appetito,” Nicky smiles as he pulls out his own chair and takes a seat. There’s something so warm about the way he humbly accepts everyone’s enthusiastic _thank you’s_ for dinner, and Nile finds herself grateful once again for his calming presence. 

“I swear,” Andy muses as she spears four ziti at once on her fork and lifts it to her mouth, “that Nicky must have a published cookbook that none of us know about.” 

“A good chef never reveals his secrets,” Nicky shrugs, and Joe nods along with each word, laughing beside Nicky all the while. 

The moment is broken so abruptly that for the first ten seconds, it doesn’t even click in Nile’s head that anything has changed. 

One. A car stalls outside, the harsh staccato rhythm echoing like gunshots through the open balcony doors. 

Two. Nile swallows another forkful of pasta, the noise not affecting her any more than the constant hum of the refrigerator or the tapping of Andy’s foot against the floor. 

Three. Nicky’s fork slips out of his hand and clatters against the table. 

Nile turns her head in what feels like slow motion to find Nicky’s palms pressed flat against the tile on either side of his plate. His eyes are vacant, lacking all of the warmth they usually hold, and his breathing has gone ragged. It gets harsher with each breath he takes, and Nile feels frozen to her seat. 

Joe and Andy, however, are not. 

Joe is reacting before Nile has even finished processing the situation. He pushes his own chair out from the table and takes Nicky’s shoulders in his hands, shifting him sideways until his chair and body are facing Joe’s. Then Joe’s sitting back down, curling his hand around the back of Nicky’s neck, and leaning forward until their foreheads are nearly pressed together. 

In the same breath, Andy steps around the table and stops behind Nicky. The palm of her hand finds its place between his shoulder blades, and she turns to Nile just as Joe begins to speak. 

“Shut the doors,” Andy says as she flicks her eyes up towards the source of the noise. Nile’s on her feet as soon as the words are out of Andy’s mouth. She crosses the room and pulls the balcony doors closed, effectively blocking out any noise from the streets below, and turns back around on her heel at the sound of Joe’s voice. 

“ _Guardami_ , Nicolò,” Joe says. “Find my eyes. We are in the hotel, on the corner of Via Luigi De Maio, just past that café you love so much.”

Nicky raises his head slightly, just enough for a brief moment of eye contact with Joe, but it drops back down with the next heave of his chest. His hands are trembling where they’re desperately gripping the fabric of Joe’s shirt. Nile watches, thinking of his normally unshakable presence. She thinks of his hands, ever steady, whether he’s gripping his rifle or chopping vegetables or wrapping a bandage around Andy’s arm. Those hands are so different from the ones now holding onto Joe in white-knuckled fear, and Nile finds herself reaching for the back of the closest chair to regain her balance.

Andy’s voice joins Joe’s. “Breathe, Nicky. Slow and steady. Like you've done before.” 

“We are here, my heart,” Joe says against Nicky’s cheek. Nicky folds forward at that, tucking his face into the side of Joe’s neck as Andy continues to rub his back. “We are all here. Yusuf, Andromache, and Nile.”

Joe catches Nile’s eyes over Nicky’s shoulder at the mention of her name. There’s permission in his look, almost like he’s saying _it’s okay, you can come closer_ without using the words. 

She walks around the table to stand behind Joe’s back, essentially bracketing Nicky in so he’s surrounded on all sides. His wrist is cold underneath her fingers, but she finds it and squeezes gently. “We’re here, Nicky. You’re safe.”

The slight shake of Nicky’s head against Joe is almost imperceptible, but Joe must feel it, because he tightens his grip on the back of Nicky’s neck to hold him still. Nile watches as Joe uses his other hand to gently loosen Nicky’s grip from his shirt, and then folds his hand around Nicky’s and presses it against his own chest between them.

“ _Respira con me_ ,” Joe whispers like no one else is there but the two of them, and Nicky breathes out something back that Nile doesn’t catch. 

With her hand still curled around Nicky’s wrist, Nile shifts her gaze from the top of his head to Andy, who she finds looking at Joe. Joe is looking back. There’s an unspoken language between them that’s as loud as if they were using words, and Nile feels a sudden rush of gratitude for the fact that it’s a language she’s learning more and more of each day.

Nile squeezes his wrist. Andy rubs his back. Joe keeps him from trembling into pieces and mumbles gentle words into his hair in six different languages, over and over again. 

And eventually, Nicky takes a breath that doesn’t leave him in a frantic rush.

Everything feels still as Nicky’s breathing finally slows. Nile takes a step back, releasing her grip on him, and winces as she stretches her shoulders back. She doesn’t know how long she stood there leaned over the two of them - most likely not more than fifteen or twenty minutes, but it felt like much, much longer.

“Nicolò,” Joe’s voice brings Nile back to the present. “Are you with me?” 

“Si,” Nicky mumbles as he pulls back from Joe’s neck and knocks their foreheads together gently. “Sempre.”

“Why don’t you two take a walk?” Andy suggests as she slides her hand off of Nicky’s back. There’s a knowingness to the way she says it that tells Nile that this chain of events has happened before, and that there’s a routine they follow that makes it manageable. “We’ll clean up here.” 

Joe stands first and Nicky takes his hand, rising to meet him. He wavers slightly, but finds his steadiness once Andy pulls him into her arms and kisses his cheek. Joe rests a hand on Nile’s shoulder as he steps past her, and then he’s leading Nicky out the door, his other hand nestled snugly at the small of Nicky’s back.

Nile watches the door swing shut. The silence feels deafening without the sound of Nicky’s harsh breathing, but it doesn’t last for more than a few seconds. 

“Three jobs ago,” Andy starts as she collects the half-full plates from the table and begins placing them in the fridge. “Or was it two? Whenever we were in Seoul. What happened while we were there?”

“I don’t remember all the details,” Nile admits. “We got the job done and got the information that Copley needed.” Andy’s still watching her though, so there must be something she’s missing.

Oh. 

“Joe died.” Nile looks up at Andy. “He was shot.”

Andy nods. “So were you. Nicky… he keeps it together for everyone else. It’s the way he’s always been. But he breaks, sometimes, and there aren’t usually any signs that it’s coming. This was one of those times.” 

“The deaths affect us in our own ways,” Andy continues. “You’ve seen how it is with Joe sometimes, when he won’t sleep. Nightmares aren’t uncommon for any of us either. Certain things will come back to Nicky once in a while, sometimes days or weeks later. I think he gets caught up thinking about what would have happened if the death had stuck.” 

“So he has panic attacks,” Nile offers.

Andy nods. “There wasn’t a name for them the first time it happened. He’s always okay, though. Joe pulls him back out, but the more of us that can be there for him the better.”

“I hated seeing him like that.” Nile glances towards the closed balcony doors. She can’t see the sun from her seat at the table, but from the small glimpse of the sky she manages, she can tell that it's on its way to setting. 

“We all do,” Andy finishes clearing the table, and then pushes the rest of the chairs in. “Hopefully you won’t have to see it too often. But you did good.”

“Can we go see him?” Nile meets Andy’s eyes, and gets a soft smile in return.

“I was about to suggest the same thing.” 

Only half of the sun is still visible by the time Nile and Andy step onto the beach across from the hotel. The half-circle remaining above the line of the ocean casts a golden glow over the water and the sand, almost as if serving to illuminate the sight of Joe and Nicky sitting pressed against each other just beyond the gentle reach of the waves. 

Joe’s arm is around Nicky’s back, his hand rubbing up and down the side of Nicky’s arm. Nicky’s head rests on Joe’s shoulder, but he straightens when Nile and Andy step up beside them.

“I am sorry, Nile. I didn’t mean for -”

“Don’t even start.” Nile shakes her head and sits with her back to the water in front of Andy, who’s already claimed the spot beside him. “Are you okay?”

Andy squeezes Nicky’s knee, and he rests his hand over hers and squeezes back. “Yes, thank you. I’m feeling better now. It was just a bad few moments.” He looks to Joe, then Andy, then Nile. “They happen sometimes.”

“They do,” Joe agrees as he rubs Nicky’s arm. “But the good thing about them is that you will never have to go through them alone.” He looks at Nile, gratitude written all over his face. “None of us will.” 

“That’s the spirit,” Andy grins as she rests her head on Nicky’s shoulder. Nile stretches her legs out and knocks her right foot against the back of Nicky’s, and he answers by nudging her left foot with his toe until his foot is nestled snugly between both of hers. 

They sit in silence for a moment or two, listening to the soft hum of the waves brushing over the shore, until Nile looks up and notices the way Andy, Nicky, and Joe are all bathed in hues of yellow and orange. “Okay. Best sunset you’ve ever seen. Go.”

Andy considers for a moment, then nods as if agreeing with herself. “Ireland. At the Cliffs of Moher. No contest.”

“Santorini,” Nicky says. He leans forward so his arms are resting on his folded knees, and Nile watches as Joe runs his palm from the back of Nicky’s neck down to the base of his spine. 

“I thought we agreed that Malta had the best sunsets, my love?”

Nicky hums. “Malta’s sunsets were beautiful. But I think I preferred the sunrises.” He cocks his head in Joe’s direction, and Joe winks. 

Nile rolls her eyes. “You two are sickening.”

“We try.”

Nicky’s laugh at Joe’s response is soft and quiet, but it brings Nile a new sense of warmth. “You haven’t answered yet, Nile. What is your favorite sunset?”

She pauses. Nicky’s eyes are on hers, while Joe’s gaze is fixed on Nicky’s side profile. Andy’s watching them both, and then switches to glance at Nile with a peacefulness on her face that brings Nile yet another wave of comfort. 

Nile glances back over her shoulder at the golden sky behind her. “I haven’t seen nearly as many sunsets as you three yet, but I think this one’s pretty nice.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> guardami - look at me  
> respira con me - breathe with me  
> sempre - always
> 
> -google thinking im planning a trip to italy after i spent an hour looking at maps of this town to see where the hotel could be in relation to the beach and the cafe joe mentioned:  
> -bakery expert joe makes his return!! i have an idea for another fic based on this concept, which i am hoping to get to work on soon  
> -oh to take a walk through the streets of italy with joe  
> -idk if you can tell but nicky and andy's friendship means absolutely everything to me  
> -and at this point my end notes are always nonsense but this is my first time doing a multi-chapter fic so i am having FUN
> 
> comments/feedback are always so appreciated! I'd love to hear what you think about this chapter :) also you can find me on twitter @elvesofmirkwood ! thank you for reading<3


	4. rio, august

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we are... at the last chapter!! Nile has been learning a lot, and even though she has shined in different ways throughout the previous chapters, this chapter is all about her really taking the lead and using what she has learned to be there for Andy, Nicky, and Joe. 
> 
> If you will allow me to be sappy for a moment... I am so so so grateful for all the support and comments and kudos on this fic, I cannot even put it into words. This was my first time doing a multi-chapter fic and is also by far the longest fic I have ever written, so it's been so much fun to share it and hear what people have thought along the way. These characters are so special to me and have given me something so fun to focus on when I really needed something like that, and writing and sharing this fic has been so cathartic for me. I also want to say a very very big thank you to three of my lovely friends, Alizza, Allie, and Kai, for their endless support and encouragement as I wrote this fic<3 They were always there to hype me up when I was feeling a little too intimidated and I am so grateful. 
> 
> I think I will have more to say in the end notes but!! I hope you enjoy the final chapter<3

In Brazil, anything that could go wrong, does. 

Technically, it all started in Moscow, where the leader of the drug empire they took down sold out everyone he’d ever worked with in the first ten minutes of questioning. His wealth of information led them to his brother’s half of the operation in Rio, where the majority of the group’s profits are being kept. It escalates with the fact that Copley wasn’t the only one with the grand idea of sending a team to address the issue - Andy, Nicky, Joe, and Nile had gone in to take out the remaining members and retrieve the money before it was used for who knows what, while the other group’s primary goal was to simply take the stash for themselves. 

So instead of one group of mercenaries with guns, they’re left to deal with two.

Andy shouts orders over the noise, ducking against a wall of the compound with Nile at her back. Joe and Nicky take the other side as gunshots ricochet through the space - a firefight much larger than any of them anticipated.

It all comes to a head when the firing stops, when bodies litter the floor and the only life left in the room is emanating from Nile and the three people she came here with. 

“Are we clear?” Joe asks, and the sound of his voice after so much gunfire eases some of the tension in Nile’s shoulders. 

Andy nods, once, and Nile takes a single step forward. The echo of her boot against the floor is the only noise, and the silence feels uncomfortable, laden with an uncertainty that Nile can’t name. She hears three pairs of footsteps behind her, and as she turns, her eyes catch on a wire snaking across the floor. She remembers how Andy had checked for cameras after their last job, and moves towards it to see what it's connected to and do the same.

With her back turned, she hears more than sees the one remaining member of the two groups’ heavy footsteps as he turns the corner behind her. 

She hears more than sees Nicky’s frantic “ _Andy!_ ” and the scuffle of boots as he dives in front of her

She hears more than sees the six bullets that bury themselves in his chest.

And before she turns and takes a shot of her own, Nile closes her eyes and thanks God that she hears Joe’s anguished scream rather than seeing the look on his face.

Nile hits her target and the man hits the ground. She turns on her heel to find Nicky lying against Andy on the concrete floor with Joe kneeling beside them, pleading in languages that blend together as he stumbles over _Nicolò_ and _please_ and _stay with me_. Nile doesn’t know what the deaths were like before Andy stopped healing, but she doesn’t think they were anything like this.

Nicky makes an awful, wet choking noise in the back of his throat, and Nile watches the thin stream of blood that trails past the corner of his mouth and drips onto the floor. 

He dies.

Joe begs.

Fourteen seconds slowly tick by, and Nicky breathes. 

Joe folds over him like everything keeping him upright has instantly dissolved, and Nile breathes a sigh of relief of her own as Andy tips her head back. 

“We gotta go,” Andy’s voice is as solid and steady as ever as she helps Nicky sit up. “I’m not waiting around to see if there’s any more of them.”

“The only exit leads out onto the street,” Nile repeats the words Copley had said to them the day before. It hadn’t seemed like an issue then, when they had planned on dealing with much fewer men with guns than there turned out to be.

“We have to change, then,” Andy looks between the four of them, and then shoulders off her backpack. Clean shirts are passed around, the bloody ones stuffed back into the bag, and Nile watches as Joe’s eyes linger nervously on Nicky’s unmarked chest as he slips a clean t-shirt on over his head.

Andy dumps half of a plastic water bottle into her palm and scrubs it over her face. “There’s blood in your hair, Joe,” Nile hears Nicky mumble from behind her as Andy passes her the bottle. She wipes off her own face, grateful that her clothes are somehow blood-free, and fantasizes about the very long, very hot shower she’s going to take later. She turns just in time to catch Nicky’s hands shaking as he pours water over the top of Joe’s head. Joe blinks stray droplets out of his eyes as Nicky apologizes, repeatedly, softly, but Joe simply shakes his head and brings Nicky’s hand to his lips. 

Nile doesn’t think Nicky even notices that Joe’s hands are shaking too. 

“Everyone ready?” Nile asks. She gets three nods in return, and then she’s leading them through the dingy hallway, guided by the fuzzy map on the screen of her phone. They pile onto the street and out into the midday heat, and with the way this day is going, Nile isn’t even surprised when the car that was supposed to be waiting for them isn’t there. 

“Figures,” Andy mutters as she leans against the wall. Nile notices that she’s putting more weight on one leg than the other, and files the observation away to deal with later.

“Alright, here’s what we’re going to do,” Nile says as she faces Andy, Nicky, and Joe, and in a moment of pure amusement, realizes that she feels almost like a preschool teacher addressing their rambunctious students. The thought brings a subtle smile to her face, and Nicky returns it. “There’s no car, clearly, and we are all dirty and hot and tired, so we are going to walk through this lovely market, get something to eat, find a hotel, and pass out.”

Andy’s laugh surprises her, but it’s the most welcome sound Nile has heard all day. “Look who’s calling the shots now. Lead the way.”

So Nile does, down the street in front of them and past colorful canopies draped over the stands of different vendors, all of whom smile and wave and shout greetings in voices that would sound friendly and welcoming in any language.

“We have lots of experience with the food around here,” Joe’s voice is added to the mix as he chimes in from behind Nile. “So choose wisely.” 

She smirks. “Believe me, I know what I’m about and you will not be disappointed.”

They only have to walk for a few minutes before they come across a cluster of tables and chairs in the shade. Nile nods toward them expectantly, and Joe, Nicky, and Andy step past her and sit down without hesitation. Joe winds his arm around Nicky’s chair and squeezes the back of his neck, just as Andy hooks another chair with her right ankle, drags it towards her, and props her left leg up on it with a sigh.

“I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere.”

Nile backtracks to a stand that had caught her eye earlier, and returns to the table a few minutes later with two heaping acai bowls in each hand. “I never should have doubted you, Nile,” Joe teases as he reaches for the two closest bowls and slides one towards Nicky. “It seems like I have passed my impeccable taste onto you over the past few months.” 

“You can’t have all the credit.” Nile smiles as she sits and reaches for her own bowl, covered in slices of strawberries and thick shavings of coconut. “My mom used to let my brother and I have ice cream for dinner once in a while when we were kids, especially if we had a bad day. I’m just passing on the tradition.” 

“That sounds like a very nice tradition,” Nicky says quietly as Joe reaches over and plucks a slice of banana out of his bowl and pops it into his mouth.

Nile nods, and finds that the sting of the memory isn’t as sharp as the last time she thought about it. She turns to Andy, who seems to be fully enjoying her mango concoction and the granola piled on top of it, and glances at her propped up leg. “Take your boot off,” Nile says. Andy considers for a moment, spoon still in her mouth, and then shrugs and toes off her shoe with her other foot. 

“You’re on a roll today,” she says simply when Nile can’t keep the surprise off of her face. “I’m not about to argue with you.”

There’s only a sliver of Andy’s ankle visible past her jeans, but what Nile can see is already beginning to bruise. She pokes at it gently, and Andy winces.

“Looks like a sprain.” Nile sits back and digs her plastic spoon back into her bowl. “Keep it up while we eat, and when we get to the hotel I’ll find some ice.” 

Andy gives her a thumbs up and then shifts her attention back to her dinner. Nicky and Joe have gone quiet, glancing at each other every few moments as if to make sure the other is still there, and Nile adds a point to her mental to-do list to check in with them when they’re all safely off the street.

The sun is warm but not oppressively hot against Nile’s back, and the sounds of four spoons scraping against the bottom of bowls mixes in with the laughter of kids running up and down the street, weaving in between different booths and waving as they pass. It’s a sound Nile could easily get lost in, especially after the chaos of the day, but Nicky makes a noise from the other side of the table that brings Nile back to the moment. 

It starts off like a gag, and then escalates into a small coughing fit. The coughing, Nile realizes quickly, is very obviously a cover-up.

“Habibi, are you alright?” Joe covers Nicky’s hand on the table with his own, as Nicky drags his other hand over his mouth and holds it there for a moment. When he pulls it away, he stares at it, and then drops it back to the table. 

The realization that he’s checking for blood hits Nile harder than she expects it to. 

“Mhm,” Nicky hums as he swallows almost convulsively. Nile takes it as her cue to stand and get everyone moving again, because showers and sleep are feeling more and more necessary by the second. 

“Ready to go?”

“You might have to carry me, Joe,” Andy deadpans. “I don’t know if I can make it.”

Joe rolls his eyes. “Your one good leg is probably better than all of ours combined,” he says as he walks around the table and pulls Andy’s arm around his shoulders, hoisting her up so he’s supporting half of her weight. 

“It’s not like I’ve never carried you. Nile, has Joe ever told you about what happened in the 20s in -” 

“That’s enough of that,” Joe interrupts as they step back onto the street, Nile in front and Nicky behind Andy and Joe. “I am not above dropping you.”

Nile stops in front of the third hotel they pass - a smaller inn-type place that, from the outside, looks like the perfect combination of comfortable and inconspicuous. No one voices any disapproval as Nile pushes the front door open, so she exchanges the money Copley had given her for a single room key with the woman at the front desk. 

“We have adjoining rooms, if you would like,” the woman had said as she glanced over Nile’s shoulder at the three other members of the group, but Nile had simply shaken her head, smiled, and insisted that one room with two beds would be just fine. It would take longer for all four of them to shower, but something about being separated, about not being able to keep an eye on everyone for the rest of the night, made Nile uneasy.

She drops the key into Joe’s outstretched hand and gestures towards the hall behind him. “Go find the room. I’m going to get ice for Andy’s ankle.” 

“You got it, boss,” Joe grins, and Nile can’t help but mirror his look as Andy gasps dramatically.

Finding ice is a much simpler task than Nile expects. She’s knocking on the door of their room with the bag propped against her hip in under ten minutes, and Joe lets her in. 

“Andy’s showering,” he nods to the closed bathroom door. “She does _not_ waste any time. I told her to try not to slip and crack her head open, but she just shut the door in my face.” 

Nicky is sitting at the small table underneath the window, methodically emptying the three backpacks at his feet and checking each item before he sets it down in front of him. Nile watches him for a moment, and then glances at the two beds against the wall, both of which have already had the top blanket pulled down and the pillows fluffed up. 

“How disgusting would it be if I just crawled in there right now without showering?” she turns to Joe, and he furrows his brow and gives her a look of mock concentration. 

“I would say… 6 out of 10 on the disgustingness scale. I’ve fallen asleep far worse off. But that was because showers were not a thing at the time.”

“Fine,” Nile drags out the end of the word as she sits down hard on the edge of the bed.

Andy limps out of the bathroom a few minutes later, and Nile stands to pull the ice out of the room’s fridge. Andy holds up her hand. “Let me call Copley first.” Nicky tosses her one of the burner phones resting on the table, and she hobbles into the hallway, closing the door behind her. 

“Poor guy,” Joe mutters. “He’s about to get an earful.” He turns his attention toward Nicky. “Would you like to shower now, Nico?” 

Nicky mumbles a quiet “yes,” his voice cracking on the single syllable. Joe gives Nile a slightly sad look, but there’s something trusting behind it too. “I’ll go get it ready then. Come join me in a couple minutes.” With that, he disappears into the bathroom and the door swings shut behind him.

Silence settles over the space, nothing but the sound of items being lifted off and then placed back on the table one by one. Nicky’s intense focus comes off more like a trance than anything else, and Nile pulls out the chair next to him and sits. 

“Nicky,” she starts, and he raises his eyes to meet hers. “Talk to me. Are you okay?” 

He looks at her like he’s not sure if he should nod or shake his head, and then settles for taking an unsteady breath and staring down at the table. “Andy could’ve -” 

“She didn’t.” Nile squeezes his hand. “She’s good. We all are.”

Nicky moves his hand to his chest, rubbing over it so absently that Nile doesn’t think he even realizes what he’s doing. “I heard Joe yell for me,” he says quietly. “Before I died. I could taste the blood in my mouth. All I could think was that I did not want to leave him.” 

“ _Nicky_ ,” Nile breathes out. She thinks of Booker, briefly, and how badly he had wanted to die. She knows that the same desperation must live in all of them, has to after carrying the weight of the world for so long. But Nicky and Joe are the only ones with a condition that goes along with it. 

“I didn’t want to leave you or Andy either,” he adds, and Nile answers by standing, nudging his foot with hers until he does the same, and pulling him into a hug. “We’re all here,” she mumbles into his shoulder as she rubs his back. “And I’m not letting go of you until you take some deep breaths.” Nicky laughs wetly over Nile’s shoulder, but she feels his chest expand slowly and steadily. 

“You sound like Joe and Andy.” 

“That’s the point.”

They stand there, Nicky breathing in and out until it sounds natural rather than like a concentrated effort, until Joe’s voice floats in from the bathroom door, so tender it makes Nile squeeze Nicky just a little bit tighter.

“Nicolò,” Joe says. “Everything’s ready.” 

Nile releases her octopus-like grip around Nicky’s back, and he steps back and runs a hand down her arm. “Thank you, Nile.”

“Of course,” Nile gives him a soft smile. “Now go, your husband is waiting for you.” She pushes him gently towards the bathroom, and watches as Joe takes his hand as soon as he’s close enough to reach. It closes behind them, at the exact moment the front door opens and Andy steps back in. 

“Well, that was fun.” Andy collapses onto her back on the closest bed and tosses the phone to Nile. 

“I hope you didn’t scar him for life,” Nile says to the bag of ice as she wraps it in a towel from the bathroom and then sits down on the bed beside Andy. She flicks her eyes towards the headboard, and Andy sits up and maneuvers herself backwards until she’s sitting against it with her legs stretched out in front of her. 

“No promises there,” Andy shrugs with one shoulder and then hisses through her teeth when Nile presses the ice to her ankle. “ _Shit_ , that’s cold.” 

“This should be good for now,” Nile says. “We can just ice it again in the morning and go from there.”

Andy makes a noise of approval and reaches for the TV remote. “Benefits of speaking every language known to man?” She stops on what looks to Nile like an extremely dramatic soap opera. “Entertainment everywhere I go.”

“This is not what I would call entertaining.” Nile shakes her head. “Now do you have any more injuries I should know about?” 

Andy stretches her arms over her head and winces. “Just a few cuts that I covered after I showered. And some rather spectacular bruises. That’s it, though.” She’s quiet for a moment or two, and Nile thinks she’s just gotten lost in the mess playing out on the TV screen, but then she speaks again, her voice uncharacteristically quiet. “Most of the blood on me was Nicky’s.” 

“I talked to him,” Nile tugs at a loose thread in the sheets under her knee. “I think he’ll be okay.” 

Andy hums as the sound of the shower in the bathroom stops. “He will.” 

“You’re up,” Joe half mumbles, half yawns when he turns the corner a few minutes later and gestures vaguely in the direction of the bathroom. Nicky looks considerably better than he did earlier - his eyes are still tired, but he’s steadier on his feet and stops to fuss over Andy for a moment before Joe tugs him away. He spares a glance towards the table, like maybe he should give everything one last once over, but then shakes his head, mutters “ _domani_ ” under his breath, and flops down on his stomach onto the other bed.

“I think,” he says as he rolls onto his back and stretches out his legs, “that this is the most comfortable bed I’ve ever been in.”

Andy snorts from her spot beside Nile. “You can't say that until you’ve slept in one of the royal bedrooms at Buckingham Palace,” she says casually. 

“You’ve slept _where_?” Nile stammers out. Andy shrugs once again, and Nile slides off the bed. “You know what? Don’t even tell me. I’m too tired for an insane story right now.”

She wordlessly catches Joe’s elbow in her hand as she walks towards the bathroom, and he follows her until they’re standing out of earshot of Andy and Nicky.

“Your turn,” Nile leans against the doorframe as Joe runs a hand through his hair. “Are you good?” 

And for all of their teasing, Joe simply looks Nile in the eyes with nothing but sincerity on his face. “I’m good. Things were a little rough, right after.” He pauses at Nile’s knowing look. “Which I’m sure you noticed. But he’s fine, and we’re all fine. That’s what matters.” 

“Thank you,” Joe leans against the wall beside Nile and knocks his shoulder against hers. “For checking, and for checking on Nicky too.” He cranes his neck to look down at the top of her head, and she can feel the concern in his gaze. “Are _you_ okay?” 

“Yeah,” Nile confirms, and she’s pleased by the fact that it’s the complete truth. “We made it here in one piece, and I think sleep will do everyone good.” 

“You got that right,” Joe pulls Nile into a sideways hug, and then he’s gone, and the hot shower she’s been dreaming about for the past six hours is finally within reach.

Joe is sitting on the edge of Andy and Nile’s bed when Nile wanders out of the bathroom, feeling the best (and cleanest) that she’s felt all day. They’re arguing about whatever is playing out in the movie Andy has switched to, with Nicky sleepily chiming in every few seconds, and somehow, this hotel room in a city Nile’s never visited before feels overwhelmingly like home.

She settles in at the top of the bed beside Andy and Joe stands, stretching his arms over his head. She watches him cross the room and crawl into bed behind Nicky - curling close to him the way they do every night, and then snaking his arm over Nicky’s side and flattening his hand over Nicky’s heart.

“Yusuf,” Nicky mumbles, already well on his way to sleep, and Joe whispers something in Arabic that Nile doesn’t understand. She’s been learning - she can hold a short conversation now and knows far more terms of endearment than she’d ever possibly have a use for - but she’s almost glad that she doesn’t know what Joe said, the words something special and private for Joe and Nicky alone.

Nicky bends his free arm and wraps his hand around Joe’s wrist, and Nile switches her attention back to Andy and the TV. 

Andy has gone back to flicking through the channels, and Nile nearly smacks the remote out of her hand when she catches a glimpse of Star Wars. 

“Leave this on. I basically have it memorized, so I don’t need it to be in a language that I understand.”

“You know, I was at the premiere of this movie in Los Angeles. I even slept with -”

“ _Don’t_ ,” Nile interrupts her. “Do not ruin my childhood. I don’t want to hear it.”

Andy smirks, but thankfully, does not finish her sentence. They watch in silence for a while, until Nile feels the exhaustion of the day more acutely than she did when she first sat down. She leans towards the nightstand to turn off the light, but then untangles herself from the sheets and stands. “One more thing,” she mutters, and Andy watches from the corner of her eye as Nile walks around to Joe’s side of the other bed. 

“Joe?” Nile whispers as she leans over the tangle of bodies that is Nicky and Joe. She studies his face, and then, satisfied that he is actually asleep and not pretending, climbs back into the other bed and flicks off the light. 

“Wanted to make sure he wasn’t faking it,” she explains when Andy looks down at her. The only light left in the room is coming from the TV, and there’s enough for Nile to tell that Andy will be asleep soon enough too. 

Andy shifts in the bed so that she’s on her side, with her face propped up on her hand. She’s watching Nile with a very specific look on her face, one that Nile can’t place until Andy opens her mouth. 

“You did good today, Nile. You did really, really good.” 

Relief floods through Nile from head to toe, and she lets out a breath that she realizes she’s most likely been holding since Nicky stopped breathing all those hours ago. Everything she’d done had just felt right, and had come to her more naturally than she could have hoped for. “You’ve all looked out for me since day one,” she says simply, lowering her voice enough so that she won’t wake Nicky or Joe. “I want to do the same.” 

“There are a lot of reasons why you’re so great for this team,” Andy reaches out and rests a hand on Nile’s leg over the sheets, “and for this family. You held us all together today, and I’m proud of you.” 

“Thanks,” Nile hopes the single word conveys everything she’s feeling, and judging by the gentle look on Andy’s face, it does. “Being around all of you 24/7 doesn’t come without its lessons.” 

Andy chuckles softly and then flips onto her back. “That’s for sure. I’m glad most of them have been good ones. Are you going to get some rest?”

“I will once the rest of you do,” Nile yawns. “So hurry up and fall asleep so I can.” 

“If you insist,” Andy says. She glances at the shot of Han and Leia on the screen. “And have fun with them. I know I sure did when-” 

“ _Goodnight_ , Andy.” 

“Night, boss.” 

Andy closes her eyes, and her breathing evens out more quickly than Nile expects it to. The volume on the TV is low and every word coming from the screen feels like a lullaby, but Nile isn’t ready to sleep just yet. She watches Andy for a few minutes, and then turns over to check on Nicky and Joe. Nicky’s chest is rising and falling steadily under Joe’s arm, and if Nile squints, she can just make out the side of Joe’s face where his nose is buried against the back of Nicky’s neck.

The world feels somehow compressed to this little hotel room, like nothing exists outside of it. Like there’s just Nile, the three sleeping people beside her, the soft glow of the TV, and the half-melted bag of ice sitting in the fridge. Nile tips her head back against her pillow, knowing with complete certainty that if the TV doesn’t put her to sleep, the knowledge that Andy, Nicky, and Joe are safe and content will. So she closes her eyes, and soon enough, it does.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> habibi - my love  
> domani - tomorrow
> 
> -I wrote the scene of Nicky dying while I was in my hotel room at the beach during a huge thunderstorm one night.. the vibes just felt right so thank u to that thunderstorm for letting me be angsty  
> -me catering directly to myself by making Nile a Star Wars nerd  
> -I don't think I have any more random notes for this chapter but I had so much fun bringing it all together and just having them be cozy and safe in the end... they deserve it and it was so enjoyable to write<3 
> 
> sappiness part 2 - thank you thank you thank you thank you to everyone who has kept up with this fic, left kudos and comments, and followed along with my take on this wonderful little family. I am so appreciative for the support and I will cherish the lovely comments I've gotten forever<3 I would absolutely love to hear your thoughts on the last chapter :) 
> 
> I have plans for some more Joe/Nicky and found family fics, so I hope to be back to posting for this wonderful movie very soon!
> 
> You can find me on twitter @elvesofmirkwood :) thank you so so very much again for reading <3

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [just to keep you warm, just to bring you home podfic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27826672) by [perfectsymmetry18](https://archiveofourown.org/users/perfectsymmetry18/pseuds/perfectsymmetry18)




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